(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, has just launched, with the support of the National Institute of Statistics (INS in French), a project which will be completed by October 2015. It involves the implementation of an electronic system that enables the collection and broadcast of staple food prices via smartphone.

In Cameroon, the project aims to reduce price instability on the country’s markets, by giving households and farmers real time information that will help them to make better purchasing and sale decisions.

This type of information system already exists in the cocoa and coffee sectors in Cameroon, and helps stakeholders to receive, each day, SMS messages with the FOB and CAF prices of these products. According to the cocoa-coffee organisation, the Sector Information System (SIF in French), has strengthened famers’ negotiation capacity with buyers, leading to better remuneration for their hard work.